Psych /
Contrepoint
At the end of the sixties, Jean Pierre Weiller, a young Parisian and amateur bassist, was an assistant at a Soft Machine concert, and befriended Hugh Hopper who introduced him to Robert Wyatt. He was invited to the Abbey Road studios to attend the recording of Kevin Ayers's 1969 album Joy Of A Toy (MRSSS 513LP). Back in Paris, in October 1970, he decided to add a saxophonist to the band Brave New World, a band he set up at the age of seventeen with two other high school students of Paris's thirt…
Retrospektiw
The first 10 years of Magma were celebrated on three memorable evenings in June 1980 at the Olympia theatre in Paris. This retrospective, reuniting most of the musicians who had performed in the group, was issued as two albums, Retrospektïẁ 1 / 2 (double) and Retrospektïẁ 3 (single). Issued first, Retrospektïẁ 3 comprises 3 titles Retrovision, a long piece in the style of the album Attahk, in which the vocalists Stella Vander, Guy Khalifa and Maria Popkiewicz turn in a blazing performance…
Weidorje
A vinyl reissue of a hard to find album from 1978 by a French
progressive rock band. Weidorje was formed in 1977 by two ex-Magma
members. Musically and spiritually the atmosphere isn't too different
from Magma. This is real savage stuff with an anguished vibe, a strong
rhythm section, ultra vitriolic guitar leads, dissonent sax breaks, and
dark incantations.
1001 Centigrades
Back to Black series. Recorded at Michel Magne studios in Herouville, 5-10 of April, 1971. After losing guitarist Claude Engel and reinforcing the brass section with Jeff Seffer on saxophones and Louis Toesca on trumpet, Magma went back into the studio in 1971 to record a second album. All the originality and greatness of Kobaia are there, in even greater measure because everything is magnified. The two tracks composed respectively by Teddy Lasry and François Cahen occasionally introduce a jazzi…
Z=7L
Zao was founded at the beginning of the seventies by Yochk'o "Jeff" Seffer (saxophone, clarinet) and François "Faton" Cahen (pianos), both ex-members of Magma's first era, which includes the albums "Kobaïa" (1970), "1001 ° centigrades" (1971) and "Uniweria Zekt-the Unnamables" (1972). In this first album from Zao, "Z = 7L" (1973), the very complex melodic instrumental layers are enriched with the wonderful voice of Mauricia Platon (with its kobaïan accents). Zao’s progressive/zeuhl sound has lon…
Les trois Fou's perdegagnent
Second album by Etron Fou Leloublan, the mythic avant-rock / rock-in-opposition incredible trio, that happily destroys all rock structures and performs a delirious music, full of humour and rhythm. Etron Fou Leloublan had definitely moved up a notch with this release and things would actually get even better with the next release! Still, this album, originally published in 1979 is quite a juicy steak that will take quite some time to devour with the end results exceeding beyong the initial anti…
Batelages
Ferdinand Richard, strings, vocals. Chris Chanet (alias Eulalie Ruynat), horns, vocals. Guigou 'Samba Scout' Chenevier, percussions, choir. A French avant-rock band founded in 1973 by actor and saxophonist Chris Chanet. They were best known as one of the original Rock in Opposition (RIO) bands. Etron Fou Leloublan's music has been described as a blend of punk rock, jazz, French music hall, comedy satire and 'avant-garde mayhem'. Batelages was recorded in November 1976, and its centered around Gu…
Klossa Knapitatet
Their third album, originally issued by Silence in 1974, now reissued. Klossa Knapitatet is one of Samla's most exuberant excursions into fusion/avant-garde jazz-prog. A heady mix of Zappa-esque ridiculousness, Scandinavian folk, bent guitar, tinkering piano, circus music, cheeky accordion serenades and yodeling, this is Samla bending all rules and being totally bonkers. For fans of Måltid, but with more electric guitars and high-pitched vocals.
Studio Zund
RESTOCKED! A must for Magma fanatics, fans and freaks everywhere. An opportunity not to be missed. For the first time ever, the full set of 9 incredible studio albums - from Kobaia to K.A - in deluxe digipack form. Each volume has its own 32 to 48 page booklets, containing photos and previously unpublished documents re-telling the story of MAGMA in 9 detailed chapters. Also includes a bonus double CD of archive documents: the first demo recorded by the band in 1970, the original sound track from…
Ultimatum
A lost jewel in the crown of the French underground. Mosaic made this, their only album, in 1978. You'll hear similarities to Zeuhl bands, Hatfield and the North, King Crimson, National Health. The music is mostly instrumental fusion/progressive performed on acoustic and electric guitars, synths, cello, double bass, electric bass, keyboards, drums and percussion. This reissue includes their 1977 demo tape Cuvée 77 and two additional bonus tracks.